


No Strings Attached

by ModernArt2012



Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Canon Compliant, Character Death does occurr, F/M, Rivalry, There are Letters, To Romance, as in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 14:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15245343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModernArt2012/pseuds/ModernArt2012
Summary: The first time they “meet”, Kankuro is doing his best to not die and can’t really be bothered to remember some random person not of Suna and not a direct threat to his life. He’s seen one too many bodies from his psychotic little brother, and he’s not keen on becoming one of them.





	No Strings Attached

**Author's Note:**

> For the Naruto Gift Exchange
> 
> Your giftee is Tweet and you can find them @ThisCatastrophe  
> They asked for:
> 
>  
> 
> _Lord I'd love some KankuTen, honestly, but I know that's niche; if you do that, can it be some friendly rivalry-turned-romance garbage? Really, anything that plays their personalities off each other is good for me. Something lighthearted! If not KankuTen, maybe a KakaGai mission fic or art? ___
> 
> _  
> _There you are Tweet, KankuTen rarepair rivalry garbage to romance_  
>  _

The first time they “meet”, Kankuro is doing his best to not die and can’t really be bothered to remember some random person not of Suna and not a direct threat to his life. He’s seen one too many bodies from his psychotic little brother, and he’s not keen on becoming one of them. A weak Konoha kunoichi is insignificant in comparison; her fight in the preliminaries against Temari mostly reinforces the idea. Kankuro can faintly recall surprise at a Konoha shinobi knowing chakra strings are a thing as a genin, but her use is subpar at best and even the most novice of the Puppeteer Brigade members would cringe. But otherwise no one but Naruto, Shino, Lee, Orochimaru, and the Uchiha really stick out from that event. Not even his future brother-in-law, which says something. Probably about Kankuro, though he prefers to think that it meant everything was overshadowed by the fact his little bro went from psychotic killer to zen master to Kazekage pretty much overnight and there was governing to do and Kankuro is too young to need this much coffee in the morning but needs must.

 

Which means he’s completely blindsided when Team Gai blows into Sunagakure at the end of a merchant guarding mission nearly a year later. Almost literally; the jounin sensei and Lee nearly run him over. The stars he sees from how hard he went into the stucco means the first memorable thing he probably says in front of her is, “Are you an angel?”

 

The angel - actually named Neji, not that Kankuro knows that yet- frowns. Admittedly, the teen is pretty enough to be an angel, Kankuro decides as his vision clears, but no, mortal. A Hyuuga by the eyes. “Gai-sensei, I think he’s concussed.” The pronouncement does nothing to cover the fact that twin buns’ giggling and Lee and the sensei - Gai-sensei - are sparkling. Still, up Kankuro goes over the unknown Hyuuga’s shoulder, and Twin Buns’ while their sensei and other teammate lead the way to the hospital. At breakneck speed nearly causing more accidents in the resultant wind stream.

 

Kankuro stares at the freshly ruined pottery stand and says, “Aw, Konoha, _why_.” The twin sighs on either side of him tell him it might be worse than he sees. Still, he stretches out chakra strings to pull the stand back to something resembling “together”. He’ll dispatch a jounin-genin team when he has the resources to do so - most are out running missions currently. Hopefully a team comes back in time to take care of it before Gaara attempted to fix it. Last time ended with tetanus shots.

 

The Hyuuga and Twin Buns sigh almost in sync and chorus, “We’re sorry for them.” It sounds entirely too well rehearsed, Kankuro pities them for half a minute until another telltale crash echoes through the market. The pair exchange looks, then wilt, “We’ll fix that.”

 

Kankuro decides it a bigger headache to wonder about that then it’s worth, and instead takes the offer at face value. “Thanks.” Konoha is crazy, he decides once more. If the crazy Konoha shinobi weren’t saving others from psychosis, they were causing it.

 

Twin Buns nods amicably, “I’m Tenten. Angel boy is Neji.” And Kankuro really is never going to live calling the Hyuuga an angel down. “Those two are Gai-sensei and Rock Lee. This is actually sedate for them.”

 

“I remember Lee; Gaara nearly killed him.” The cool air of the shade awnings are a relief - there’s a reason most shinobi shunshin through Suna and leave everyone else to the unrelenting sun.

 

A hum of consideration, then Twin Buns, with a noise of comprehension, “You're Temari’s brother!”

 

Most people would remember him as the Kazekage’s brother, not Temari’s brother - not the least because she has two brothers, and also Gaara was a bona fide psychopath who murdered people for kicks and giggles for a while before he became Kazekage which is much more memorable overall than Temari- and the statement takes Kankuro aback.

 

The Hyuuga harrumphs, “Forgive Tenten, she's determined to beat your sister after her defeat in the last Chunin Exam.” Which explains why Twin Buns looks familiar, Kankuro last saw her looking wrecked draped over Temari’s war fan. The kunoichi with awful chakra strings.

 

Makes sense that she wants to have a rematch, after that loss anyone would declare rivalry; Kankuro would too if it wouldn't be against that crazy Bug Guy. But what comes out of his mouth is, “Not with those shoddy chakra strings you're not.”

 

Twin Buns looks affronted but sounds annoyed, “I've gotten better with using them!” The Hyuuga says nothing, which would be suspect but Kankuro has met Hyuuga before - they’re taciturn bastards at best.

 

There’s a medic hurrying over to meet them - an unfortunate perk of being the son of the previous Kazekage and the brother of the current Kazekage, one that has Kankuro cringing at the preferential, deferential treatment - and Kankuro meets Twin Bun’s steely gaze. “I’m sure you are.”

 

It sounds just as sarcastic as Kankuro meant it to be. Just out loud, not in his head where it was supposed to stay. Thankfully Twin Buns grins like a sand viper, deadly challenge and beauty in one. “Why don’t we get you fixed up and then test it out shall we?”

 

Cyanide sweet, like marzipan - the kunoichi ideal. Thank the Sage Granny Chiyo inoculated him and his siblings against such a basic poison early on in life. It’s probably the endorphins from no longer having a pounding headache that’s got him acting irrationally, but, “You’re on.”

 

Needless to say, he remembers her then.

 

* * *

 

Dear Tenten -

 

The Kazekage has stared at me for 15 minutes straight without blinking which means he strongly suggests I apologize for giving you a brain bleed and breaking your arm in four places. I know I apologized in person, and again at the hospital, and again before you left, but I’ll apologize again since it is very important Suna continues to foster good relations with Konoha after our recent alliance re-negotiation.

 

That said, I will take this opportunity to include the book on intermediate chakra string theory since you’ve apparently only been able to find the beginner text as a symbolic offering of sincerity in apology. Hopefully it’ll help.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kankuro of Suna.

 

* * *

 

Dear Kankuro -

 

Gai-sensei and Lee have been sparkling at me and Neji (who is meditating) while exclaiming over the power of friendship and youth and strengthening bonds between allies and don’t look to be stopping any time soon. I thought I’d take this opportunity to let you know any further apologies are unnecessary, but if your Kazekage insists, then I would like a rematch next time we meet (if possible).

 

The text is very helpful, thank you. Even with the implied subtext of “your chakra strings are awful and an insult to the art.”

 

Sincerely,

 

Tenten

  


* * *

 

The next time Team Gai comes through Suna, 6 months later, Kankuro is kicked off the couch where he was napping on his day off by Temari and asked (informed) that Team Gai is coming through and he will be accompanied to not start a International Incident This Time when he goes to guide them around. Kankuro would like to indicate there was no International Incident and sparring between friendly Hidden Villages is good and healthy and a great way to measure growth. Frankly, no one had planned for the missing nin ambush, and that it happened at all was a freak accident. Also! If anyone was really keeping track, it was all _Konoha’s_ fault, the missing nin were only in Suna after the Byakugan. Kankuro had told the Village Elders, and Gaara, and Baki-sensei, but it was one thing to know there was a bounty on an allies eyes and another to point it out. Or to point out one’s allies were crazier than a tanuki in a box.

 

Either way it was a good B rank to clear out the missing nin and the mission pay Konoha shelled out was appreciated.

 

Still, Kankuro is a newly minted Jounin who’s under threat of getting a genin team (the horror!) and he knows when he needs to fall in line, especially when faced with a no win situation. He’s not going to have to babysit Gaara’s tiny terrors - read, Gaara’s genin team, Gaara’s preferred form of expressing extreme disapproval - again just because he ducked Temari and orders (again). Last time the lesson was _traps_ with Kankuro as the object to capture, and Kankuro was still finding glue in places glue shouldn’t be able to get for weeks after the lesson. He’s still torn between pride at Suna genin ruthlessness and hatred.

 

So Kankuro gets up, thoroughly douses himself in sunscreen and then carefully draws on his face paint. On goes the holster for his carrying scrolls. He spares a moment for a longing glance at where Sanshōuo rests in pieces across his workbench, but goes out the door without him.

 

Okay, Kankuro lied, he pocketed one of the locked up leg mechanisms to fiddle with while he and Temari wait at the gate. He’s nearly got it un-gunked enough to move freely when a rush of sand and wind undo all his work in an instant. With a deep breath he waits for Temari to clean them off with a wind jutsu, then announces, “ _Konoha_ .” Because it would only be Konoha. No one else cultivates that level of crazy, the kind of crazy that means you run full sprint across _a desert_. Still, he’s sure Gai-sensei and Lee are halfway across the market causing chaos trying to stop their full tilt mad dash, so he waits for the sane(r) duo of Team Gai.

 

They run in at a more normal pace, and while Kankuro knows objectively Team Gai are all chunin as of the last Exam in Iwa, conspicuously, none but the Team sensei and Lee are wearing the flak jacket. Probably a visual trick, to make people think they’re lower level than they are so they’re the ones who get attacked first, and gives Gai and Lee time to act.

 

Which means the scrolls they’re delivering are on Gai and Lee. Of course. Because Konoha. He glances at his sister, who takes his meaning in an instant before smiling. Okay, good, he’s not the only one who’s wondering where the alleged “genius” of Konoha went. Still, he waves hello at the visiting duo’s polite greeting. He sees the flick of grey eyes over his hands and the complicated tangle of gears, but merely curious not probing, as Temari makes the requisite polite inquiries that Tenten returns.

 

Temari leads the way through Suna, pointing out the “nice” tea shop with the good dango, and the “authentic” restaurant and gift shop - the places that everyone prefers foreigners to stick to, for easier surveillance. Only, Kankuro is bringing up the rear and sees the full head swivel of two dark heads to the weapons shop. He tries to recall if that shop sells anything beyond basic shinobi materials and tools, but the most concerning thing that comes to mind are the model war fans. The beginner’s training puppets are just hand sized mannequins with simple marionette joints, there’s no rare or iconic Suna poison sold, the materials are technically substandard for any shinobi worth their hitai-ate and overpriced to boot.

 

Kankuro will still have to follow them; knowing Konoha they’ll find something _supremely_ dangerous by accident and Gaara will make a disappointed face at him again. Temari guides in Tenten and Neji to Gaara’s office, where it sounds like Gai and Lee are fired up and exclaiming about things that would be better left as sentences. Kankuro looks in and sees the latest bout of intensity - is Lee trying to ratchet Gaara’s arm off? - before breathing deeply. _Why_ Konoha. He tries to ignore the muffled giggles behind him.

 

* * *

  


Through some Sage forsaken series of events Kankuro doesn’t really understand, he ends up press ganged into helping Team Gai. Furthermore, he ends up pinned down with only Tenten as backup in a firefight (literally!) with Kusa nin trying to steal priceless Suna artefacts from the First Kazekage’s reign. “This is all Konoha’s fault. Someway, somehow,” he informs Tenten as he jerks Karasu out of the way of a vermillion gout of flame. The edges of the wood are smoked; he cusses furiously.

 

Tenten returns the grumble, “Where did Kusa nin even learn fire jutsu from?” A swing of one of her scrolls has a flurry of kunai flying out in a hail of deadly fire. A Kusa nin goes down, skewered like fish over a charcoal grill. “That’s one for me! I’m in the lead!”

 

Kankuro unseals Kuroari - at least this way he’ll be able to use Poison Mist Hell: Hundred Continuous Firing if it comes down to it. Damn these Kusa nin! He’s not 100% ready to dual wield puppets with any finesse but _that_ technique might be useful now. If it works, it’s one step closer to being like the great Sasori of the Red Sand, who could handle five puppets (maybe more!) with great skill in battle. “What are you talking about?”

 

Tenten pulls out a bo staff and knocks out two Kusa nin trying to sneak up behind the rock they’re hiding behind. “The rematch! This is perfect!”

 

“Rematch? Now?!” And here Kankuro thought Tenten was sane; either the latent Konoha crazy was only just now manifesting or Gai and Lee’s insanity was contagious. Or maybe she’d always been that crazy and it never showed? Just to be safe, Kankuro is going to need to quarantine Gaara away from Konoha. Forever.

 

A shrug in between parrying shuriken. “We’ve got nothing better to do.” The Kusa nin nearest take offense and redouble their efforts to try and overwhelm them, and _honestly_. Kankuro has seen better from Konoha pre-genin. Idly, he notes that Tenten is better at bukijutsu than chakra strings; might be something to that.

 

A few more Kusa nin go down; from the eleven or so that had started, they’re down to five conscious or able to keep fighting even as Kankuro and Tenten draw even as to number dispatched. A brilliant grin that is all confidence gets thrown over Tenten’s shoulder. “I’ve got a plan!” Because a _plan_ makes everything better.

 

“Do I have a choice?” Still Kankuro listens, and he has to admit it’s a good plan. Just on the sane(r) side of Konoha crazy, so it just might work. “Are you sure this will work?” Let it not be said Kankuro isn’t a healthy skeptic.

 

Kankuro is never going to get an answer since there’s a series of explosions from the cave their teammates went into and what sounds like screaming. He doesn’t take his eyes off the enemy, but he’s pretty sure he sees two flashes of green out of the corner of his eye. The black blur must be Temari, and the white Neji. Tenten smirks in something that’s a mix between superiority and delight, “Time to go,” and hauls Kankuro off his feet in a blur of movement.

 

He finds his feet a few moments later, and uses Kuroari and Karasu to cover their flight; a few dozen shuriken and kunai join suit from Tenten but the Kusa nin quickly fall back and out of sight. He falls into step with Temari as the Kusa nin disappear over the horizon, and murmurs under his breath, “ _Konoha_.” Temari’s side glance tells him she agrees.

 

* * *

  
Apparently Lee has convinced Gaara that successful missions mean barbecue parties. Suna doesn’t even _do_ barbecues, since _heat_ and _heat_ and oppressive _heat_. It’s a desert; no one wants to stand around an open flame and do anything, unless night has fallen. But it’s not worth the effort to fight the idea, and Tenten and Neji seem resigned to their fates which means they’ve tried and failed enough times to know better. Kankuro takes his cues from them and just rolls his sleeves up to set up the grill.

 

Temari has wandered away - probably to double check there was no foolishness in their absence from the Elders holed up in the government building - and Kankuro is trying to decide where he wants the hot spots while Lee exclaims at Gaara about ... something that Kankuro needs to put a stop to just in case. Chakra strings reach out and arrange a stack of charcoal into place, and Kankuro has to double check that it wasn’t him unconsciously. Puppeteer Brigade training is brutal, and few have ever truly mastered it to the level the highest ranks within the Brigade required, but plenty of Puppeteers reported unconscious chakra string use.

 

But no, it’s not him. It’s Tenten, and the charcoal bricks dance in time to the waggle of her fingers. “So, what’s the verdict?” Plainly curious, as if this is some test she needs to pass.

 

Kankuro looks back over the strings - they’re fine and even unlike the lumpy mess they had been at the Chunin Exam in Konoha, and the movement of the bricks is immediate in reaction to her movements. Still rudimentary when master Puppeteers can control puppets with mere fluctuations in chakra, but.... He grins, and he knows it stretches his face paint into something sinister. “Good job, you officially met novice requirements.”

 

Instead of breaking down into tears like any other kunoichi though, the set of her mouth is determined. “Good, that’s progress in the right direction isn’t it. Now come on, we never finished that rematch.”

 

Which is how they end up having a tournament that ends with Gaara versus Neji in a draw. Somehow, Kankuro ends up drawing a first stage battle against his sister and losing, so he doesn’t face Tenten (thought conspicuously Tenten does not face Temari, which must irk Tenten). The next day, as the Konoha ninja leave, Kankuro finds himself waving them off with the promise of a rematch some other time to Tenten.

 

* * *

 

Dear Tenten -

 

Thank you for the saury; it was still fresh when we unsealed it. The seal design is novel - where did you get the idea for combining status freezing with space maximization?

 

I hope your birthday was a good one, and the gift useful. Hopefully it’s something you don’t already have in your collection.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kankuro of Suna.

 

* * *

  


Dear Kankuro,

 

I’m glad to hear that the saury was still good. Gaara mentioned that Temari requested some, but we didn’t want anyone to get sick from the fish going bad during travel. With the seal, maybe we can get fresh seafood out to Suna much more quickly! I’m working with a merchant to see if we can soft launch some trial shipments.

 

The war fan is beautiful. The damascus patterning on the ribs that subtly hide the bevels for the cutting edges are very clever, and if you didn’t notice them you’d think it was just a metal fan. Thank you very much; I’ll be sure to put it to good use!

 

Sincerely,

 

Tenten

 

P.S. - Lee and Neji say hello!

 

* * *

 

Kankuro is ashamed to say things get hectic in the worst way, go steadily down the slope of bad to worse to him chasing after black cloaked figures decorated with red clouds and a limp figure of his brother and fighting the long-believed dead creator of his puppets. The battle goes badly - not unexpected against Sasori of the Red Sand, but Kankuro thinks he held his own even as poison courses through his veins and slows his heart.

 

He loses track of everything - but he hears, Team Gai came to Gaara’s rescue, that Naruto and Sakura came, and that together they saved himself and Gaara but not before Shukaku was extracted from his prison inside Gaara. They all look haggard, destroyed and ragged even as they pay their respects to Granny Chiyo at her funeral pyre. Kankuro himself is still weak - where the hell Sasori got such a poison from is under investigation, the ingredients are rare, too costly for a missing nin to afford, and even Granny Chiyo had never seen it before which meant to figure out a way to synthesize the poison would be a high priority in the Poisoners Guild - but he takes the time to thank the Konoha teams before they go.

 

There’s no talk of a rematch this time, altogether too tired to try and maintain such a peaceful pursuit when it is very likely war is on the horizon. They have preparations to make, and Kankuro prays to the Sage they'll have time after it's all over.

 

* * *

 

He doesn’t see her again until after; when they are dressed in black and attending Neji’s funeral, battered and bruised and broken in a thousand different ways under the steady gloom. Neji died a hero, fitting the man Kankuro had known. He himself is injured, his arm sling not unusual in the crowd - residual nerve damage from senbon to his arm that even the Hokage or any of her apprentices can do much to heal, though he’s been told physical therapy will fix the rest of the damage - and so is Tenten but in very different ways. She’s exhausted, both in chakra and emotionally. Kankuro tries not to think about the fact she had been offering moral support to Lee and Gai without her other sane teammate to round out their odd interplay. He hesitates, but gamely goes over to offer his condolences to Tenten, to do his socially awkward best to distract. Gaara and Temari are busy doing political things, and Lee needs to take Gai sensei for physical therapy, so they go alone for tea at the only open tea shop.

 

It’s already packed with people dressed in black - a good day for business, as it were; Kankuro thanks the Sage that in Suna they cremate and mass cremation was preferred to save wood. The black tea is good, and Tenten nurses hers as they sit in silence. Her own limbs are jumpy, muscles twitching at random. Probably from the Treasured Tools of the Sage; Kankuro is in awe that Tenten managed to wield _any_ of those items and not die, and that she has four of the five items in her possession at all a minor heart attack lying in wait. He wonder if she knows how powerful that makes her, though it’s more than likely she would trade that power for her teammate back.

 

She’s the one to speak first, “Sorry, I’m sure you didn’t come to sit with someone who’s morose.” It’s self depreciating, a slight weakness to the words that wobbles but firms as she continues to speak. “It’s just -.”

 

It’s awkward, and he needs to stop the words threatening to bubble out. “It’s fine. I - Neji is - _was_ a good friend. I didn’t know him for half as well as you did, I’m sure his passing is painful.”

 

A shallow smile, grey like her eyes. It’s wrong it’s own right. “I’m sure you have your own dead to mourn.” A deflection, polite demurral. Her fingers rattle against her tea cup, the liquid trembling but Kankuro is sure that she doesn’t notice or she would quickly stop it from showing.

 

He instead shrugs, “Suna - we don’t mourn like in Konoha. We tell stories, remember the good and the bad. After, when we all went back, we cremated the dead and had a night long vigil around the pyre telling stories about everyone.” He takes a sip of tea; it’s lukewarm now, but perhaps that’s necessary. “It’s like what Granny Chiyo used to say - only idiots and fools lose water and salt by crying in a desert.” Probably a version of the shinobi rules, about not crying, but it made sense. Laughter was free, dehydration had a cost.

 

Tenten nods slowly, but Kankuro can tell she doesn’t get it. He didn’t expect she would, Konoha is lousy with water. A little dehydration isn’t as big an issue. Instead he nods to her twitchy arms. “Leftover from the Treasured Tools?”

 

Tenten starts, before grimacing. “I blew my chakra pathways. Too much chakra was sucked up in high volume to use them - chakra or the Tools - for the foreseeable future.” Fingers dig in harshly to muscle as if to try and massage back functionality, press the shake from her forcibly.

 

He waggles his arm in it’s sling at Tenten, “At least it’s not possible permanent nerve damage that even the Legendary Tsunade of the Sannin can’t fix immediately.”

 

Grey eyes assess carefully, quick and seeing altogether too much. “Physical therapy?”

 

Kankuro grimaces, “Physical therapy.” Tenten nods in commiseration - an ugly truth about a line of work where your body was your ultimate tool of your trade, but physical therapy sucked something awful due to the _boredom_. And when your usual methods of dealing with boredom were forbidden.... “I got told to practice calligraphy for the fine motor skills. I’m pretty sure Temari is going to make me write out the precepts of the Sage.”

 

Tenten stifles a giggle, as if the thought of Kankuro being forced to write out several dozen meters of text under the pretense of therapy is funny, then looks surprised at the sound as if she hadn’t been aware she could even.

 

It’s a familiar look - Kankuro has seen it countless times on those who survived dangerous missions under his father’s reign, as if they didn’t know how they could be any form of happy when their friends were killed. He knows he’s watching too carefully now, trying to see the fractures that he knows exists, has seen split open and swallow more experienced shinobi whole, and he knows that she knows what he sees. She’s not an idiot, she’s probably been taught enough in the Academy, in experience.

 

Something similar to resolve sets across her face. Her tea is slammed back like it’s suddenly seven times stronger and more fortified than it ought to be. “Okay, let’s do this.”

 

He doesn’t even have time to ask what ‘this’ is before he’s being pushed out the tea shop. He prays to the Sage it’s not something ridiculous - though _Konoha_ so it’s more likely than not.

 

* * *

 

‘This’ turns out to be a dozen or so bottles of sake (where Tenten even got them is up for debate), a blanket and a secluded spot on top of Hokage mountain. Kankuro isn’t even sure he’s allowed to be up here, but Tenten on a mission is not to be gainsaid by such things as logic. Probably her Konoha coming out properly, Kankuro laments, but at least it's useful.

 

Which is how Kankuro finds himself nursing a very potent bottle of alcohol and watching the stars come out as Tenten _talks_ . Starting with Neji stories - some not flattering, at his pubescent misogyny that Tenten had to beat out of him early in their genin days; some sobering, like his complex about the Main Branch of the Hyuuga Clan and Hinata; some outright hilarious, like the time in Hot Springs where Neji ended up crossdressing to infiltrate a brothel since he lost rock paper scissors- but all fond washed with pain. Kankuro has never laughed so hard at the moments of hilarity, serving up his own counterpoint details of Team Gai’s Suna adventures, remembering the best and worst of their comrade - the time Kankuro had convinced Neji that scorpion was a Suna delicacy and Neji had gingerly eaten a whole scorpion before one of Gaara’s terrors broke; the sheer haughtiness he had served the Suna Elders when they had inadvertently crossed his temper. Somehow once they’ve exhausted Neji stories - his pride and his humor, to his odd seriousness that inevitably fell prey to Gai and Lee and their... _shenanigans_ but was compatible with Tenten’s cool social awareness and rationality _,_ his care that remained deeply buried until his respect was won -  the conversation naturally turns to more personal topics, like the inherent difficulties with being on a team with people who are all focused on the same style -there’s a reason Kankuro is awful with hand to hand and Tenten forced herself to learn distance techniques, and they bemoan the sheer idiocy of people who assigned teams. “Who thought putting three people who specialize in close quarters combat without any avenue of back-up was a good idea! Zero balance!”

 

“Like three people who all do ranged combat are any better balanced? It’s asking for that whole team to get ambushed and killed.” Kankuro flops a hand in Tenten’s direction indignant at the lack of planning, “Half the reason I will never spar you in hand to hand is that I don’t have a death wish.” It’s more of a confession than he intended, but she laughs and laughs and laughs until tears sparkle in the corners of her brilliant steel eyes.

 

The topics meander as they get drunker; more and more honest and revealing. From weird hobbies - Kankuro admits to liking to paint, Tenten to working in her parent’s forge - to favorite foods, to the more personal. Like heroes, “When I was young, in the Academy, I wanted to be like Tsunade-sama.” She gesticulates wildly with the bottle, curled up around her knees like they’re the only thing keeping her upright. “The best medic - didn’t have the chakra control for it, but the idea was there. To be the best kunoichi at something, to be strong, independent, and self-sufficient as a kunoichi and not ...,” her vocabulary flags under the weight of alcohol, then recovers, “Dependent! Not some damsel in distress fawning over shinobi with hearts in her eyes, you know?”

 

Kankuro knows, because Temari is of the same opinion. As was Rasa, but that had been more general and applicable to every shinobi of Suna; Konoha was weird in their promotion of friendship and bonds but it had saved the world just now, so maybe there was something to it? He just nods at Tenten, “I wanted to be better than Sasori of the Red Sand. Best Puppeteer to ever come out of Suna, legendary.” The unsaid ‘and I beat him after he acknowledged my skills, then repurposed his sorry excuse of a body into my own puppet for my own ultimate technique’ was probably abundantly apparent, so Kankuro finishes lamely. “And you _are_ the best with bukijutsu - you wielding the Heavenly Tools with real skill? No one else comes to mind being able to do that. And you worked hard to achieve that.”

 

Tenten laughs, and it is full bodied and warm, like the residual warmth of the sands outside after the sun has gone down but before it truly gets cold with nightfall. He’s deep in his bottle, Kankuro knows, because she is bright like fine steel and rings with it. “To working ourselves to the point where we’re the best!”

 

“To hardwork,” Kankuro agrees, and they clink their bottles together for the umpteenth time that night. The stars are especially bright in the forests of Konoha, he thinks, all strange and unknown and like pieces of desert glass with lightning trapped inside. Foreign, but comfortable and familiar in their own right. Tenten’s heat is close enough to reach out and touch, but Kankuro holds himself back, holds himself away. It still feels like he can _feel_ her, though, and the phantom sensation of touch haunts his dreams.

 

* * *

 

Dear Tenten -

 

I hope your hangover isn’t half as bad as mine. Why either of us thought it was a good idea to drink half a dozen bottles of sake apiece is beyond me, but it might be the headache. Temari refuses to let any medic heal me, so I get to head back to Suna with a headache.

 

Gaara is currently flying everyone via sand, which is twice as fast as walking to everyone’s pleasure. I’m proud of how far he has come, not only as my Kage, but as my brother. That he was strong was never in doubt, but how much his strength has grown is amazing in its own right, and that he supports everyone in Suna to become strong in turn is something no one would have ever imagined back then.

 

Maybe that’s the nature of strength - it cannot be gained without support, but also requires weakness somewhere so that you can grow.

 

Maybe that’s why Konoha shinobi get so crazy strong. They have support to be weak and struggle instead of collapsing under the weight of their deficiencies.

 

We’re finally stopping for lunch; maybe Temari will let me have some coffee now.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kankuro of Suna

 

* * *

 

Dear Kankuro -

 

Please tell Temari to never withhold coffee from you again; you get more philosophical than you are drunk. Except that time, you gave a speech about why children are monsters and should be quarantined from the populace until they were moderately human and at least age ten. You might be right about strength.

 

I’ve enclosed a new experiment - coffee pills, like soldier pills but coffee. Maybe it will help with the rebuilding. Let me know - I’m trying to get out of kitchen duty.

 

Sincerely,

 

Tenten

 

* * *

 

Dear Tenten -

 

Gaara and Temari have agreed that the pills are edible and useful, but prone to keeping people awake for days on end after consuming one. They’d like to get an order immediately; how quickly can you put together a legion’s worth of pills? I’ve sealed several pounds of fresh Suna coffee beans in the seal attached, please let me know if you need more.

 

Suna is reconstructing well; we’re nearly done with the infrastructure, and many residential buildings are taking shape - stucco is easy to make and apply once the base structure is in place, though that is the slow step - but the aqueducts are proving difficult. The Puppeteer Brigade best are going out to see what can be done; getting running water is integral to getting our people out of the disaster shelters and into their homes again. At least the sewage system is largely intact. How goes rebuilding Konoha?

 

Sincerely,

 

Kankuro

 

P.S. - Gaara wants me to put in a request to the Hokage that he has spare metal and is willing to trade for wood.

 

* * *

 

Dear Kankuro -

 

I’ve sealed in the requested coffee pills on the page attached, with clear health advisory instructions per Tsunade-sama and Sakura’s request. Follow the directions closely, we’ve had people overdose. I’m glad to hear they were effective!

 

Konoha is rebuilding quickly - our mokuton user is rebuilding as fast he can, and with the manual construction going quickly so we should be done with most of the central areas of Konoha by the time this letter arrives. That just leaves homes and other such buildings, then putting in the electricity and water and sewer connections, but even civilians can help with that.

 

I’ve heard a lot about the aqueducts of Suna - a real technological marvel supposedly built by the first Kazekage when he founded Suna, carrying water naturally just by physics. I hadn’t know they were still functional.

 

I hope all this letter writing has helped with physical therapy - it’s definitely helped me with mine. I wrote this entire letter with chakra strings while working in the forge - sorry for any misspellings. We’re going through a lot of nails.

 

Tsunade-sama is sending wood and hopes the Kazekage will let her know if Suna needs more; we’ve got plenty to spare even with our buildings being built.

 

Sincerely,

 

Tenten

 

P.S. - Tell Temari I have included some fresh saury in the other seal attached; we got a shipment and I know her birthday is coming. Please tell her happy birthday for me!

 

P.P.S. - Matsuri asked after some Uzu-style kanzashi. The only things I could find were some new designs that Orochimaru and Sound created, but the basis seems to be Uzu-style. I included the notes Kabuto created, but it seems to be designed to anchor genjutsu or henge. Maybe she’ll be able to figure it out.

 

* * *

 

Kankuro doesn't notice the months flying by; not consciously anyways. There’s enough to arrange and get done in those early days, then keeping everything running, in managing and arranging and meeting after meeting when being the Master of the Puppeteer Brigade falls on him by way of he's _the highest ranking Puppeteer left after_ and that means doing double duty while trying to keep Gaara in some modicum of health.

 

By which, Kankuro means he finds himself rolling up his sleeves to do rebuilding work, talking to other veterans and civilians about what needs to be done and mediating minor arguments, pulling all nighters with his siblings more often than not, trying to get on top of the piles of paperwork that multiply every time Kankuro looks away from the stacks. Or he’s busy traveling with Gaara to the Daimyo’s Court for meetings where a lot of filthy rich courtiers do a lot of talking but not much is said, or even accomplished.

 

Tenten keeps writing, and Kankuro keeps writing back. A bastion of sanity when everything was insane and jubilant, now broken in and comfortable. It’s an internal lightness when he gets a neatly folded letter in the mail, however much he tucks it away. Her wit peeks through in puns and sly observations, as does her sheer nerdery over weapons as she collects and masters them, and the postmarks on her letters travel to lands far and wide to bely how far she goes in her pursuits. He can hear her clearly in her words, a comfort and a blessing, and it’s so simple to paint a clear picture of her and everything around her. He finds himself asking after people he’s only really met a few times, laughing at the capers they get into, and telling Tenten about Suna’s own when she asks, when other Suna shinobi ask after her. They meet up but rarely in person - Suna often a short stop on Tenten’s travels but always one that feels too short no matter how much time they spend together, sparring and shopping and sharing news. She shares photographs, when she can, of landscapes and food and sights that he carefully keeps out of what is probably sentimentality. He's old for a shinobi, after all, and won’t have a chance to go so far away unless there’s a particularly high ranking mission.

 

It's the longest, easiest continual correspondence Kankuro has ever kept up, even though it earns him teasing from Temari and Gaara. Mostly Temari, who both supports the fact Kankuro is “finally making friends outside of his puppets” (Gaara looks so proud, Kankuro hasn’t the heart to correct them that they’re _friendly rivals_ ) and also teases him about “having a crazy Konoha girlfriend” (he swears he doesn’t blush at that), but Kankuro has ammunition in the form of Shikamaru (actual crazy Konoha boyfriend) and the observations Tenten passes along so he breaks even most days. Sometimes he worries this is a long con on Konoha’s part, a ploy to get someone close to Gaara to reveal Suna secrets, but that kind of paranoia died with his father. Maybe. Kankuro hopes anyways - Tenten isn’t truly suited to infiltration work. Besides, his siblings and other Suna ninja seem to like her where they treat most everyone else with a healthy level of caution, and that will have to be good enough.

 

Time still passes, from one emergency to another, one and then it's almost a year to the day that Suna was rebuilt and Gaara prepares for the Kage Summit in Kumo. Kankuro has spent most of this as the public face of the Kazekage, mingling with the other shinobi and carrying their opinions to Gaara in between meetings, with small breaks for his own missions and personal recreation, and he’s looking forward to the Summit. Tenten had mentioned she’d be joining back up the Konoha contingent in Kumo to travel back after a mission, so maybe they can get lunch and discuss the latest chapter of the mange they both read. The last arc had some interesting indications towards the next arc, and Tenten said she had a theory about how the protagonist was going to power up.

 

He packs carefully, making sure his clothing is neat and not too worn, nothing with visible patches or holes or even slightly discolored from too many washes. He even makes sure his weapons are sharp and free of rust even though he does so weekly without fail and there’s been no time for rust to form. Tenten usually keeps herself out of any photos she takes, and he has to wonder if she’s going to be recognizable, or if she will have changed from when he last saw her. If she’ll be up for a spar - Kankuro has ideas about how to get past elemental jutsu like wind release that Tenten might like to discuss. He formulates arguments and explanations as the travel across the countries - this train idea is really quite something. If only they could figure out a way to get it to resist sand getting into the gears it would be amazing for trade and tourism to Kaze no Kuni as a whole.

 

Tenten doesn’t expect to be in Kumo until the last day of the Summit, so he spends his time there taking careful note of who says what and how all the Great Elemental Nations are faring. It’s more relaxing - for a given value of - than the last Kage Summit, where he’d had to stay on high alert of attack from the other parties and outside threats; the other people in attendance are just as dedicated to keeping every person alive as he is. He manages to catch up with a few shinobi of other nations that he’d fought with, a shinobi from Kiri who now has an eye patch but has better aim for it, a duo of ninja who invite him out for drinks and then drink him under the table, a kunoichi from Iwa shows him a picture of her son and he politely congratulates her on the birth even as he internally recoils. If Tenten had been there she would have been struggling to hide her humor at the situation he’d found himself in even as she exclaimed over the infant.

 

He’s one day out from her estimated arrival when the missing nin break in and cause chaos. From some ironic luck, they burst through the street at the same time that Gaara is near. The fight is quick and ruthless - Sand Coffins tend to be impossible for the average shinobi to break out of. Kankuro barely has to do anything, beyond intercepting a few stray kunai and shuriken. He despairs of the quality of the missing nin - no one’s tried a basic kunai on the Kazekage in a very long time since they patently don’t work - and their aim was awful. Were they aiming at stones? Might be the reason they’re missing nin - no one would get past genin with that level, and that level of poverty tended to be crippling.

 

Only Kankuro miscalculated and one of the missing nin was using paper bombs on his kunai. Gaara’s too near to throw up a defense in time, so Kankuro _moves_ and hears the exhale of air as he collides then the sound of a _massive_ explosion - homemade paper bombs then, and ones without the requisite limiter _of course_ , Sage damn the imbeciles.

 

He wakes up under the tender care of Sakura, who looks unimpressed by Kankuro getting exploded. Considering that Kankuro has heard Tenten debating what makes the best explosion for paper bombs, and then subsequently discussing how often she had blown herself up during training, it might just be a Konoha thing to get blown up and then walk away. She does a perfunct check, then frowns. “There’s nothing wrong with you beyond the minor bruising left, but no sparring for at least three days while your ears finish recovering.You’re lucky your uniform kept the worst of the heat off you, you would’ve had a nasty burn scar otherwise.”

 

Which is saying something, since Sakura is the protege pupil of _the_ Tsunade of the Sannin. He nods perfunctly, even though it leaves him dizzy, and voices his thanks. He’ll have to remember to send her some of the new poison and antidotes as thank you as well - no Puppeteer left debts, and especially not Brigade Master. It would be a moot gift, but the gesture would be appreciated.

 

Sakura huffs at him instead. “Temari and Gaara are waiting outside, but Tenten arrived early and said she’d be meeting you later this afternoon. No shenanigans!” It takes a moment to understand what she means by _shenanigans_ , but when it registered Kankuro flushes like a bad sunburn.

 

He doesn’t get around to denying _shenanigans_ \- the door rattles open and Sakura sails out as Temari and Gaara stride in. They have his discharge papers, and his face paints. His hands are shaky as he paints on the lines, but Gaara helpfully sands the borders of the lines so the excess pulls away when the sand gets removed. A quick wind jutsu and the paint is dry instead of the good ten minutes it would normally take. He’s unsteady on his feet, but the puppet pieces Gaara and Temari help him fit into place around his knees and ankles as supports mean he can walk without showing exactly how bad off he is. Only the most astute of sensors would even catch he is using chakra, and even then would think it just a minor henge to hide a bandage not chakra strings keeping him upright and moving.

 

Which is why it’s a surprise he gets stared down by Tenten in a neat little tea shop in the merchant district with suspiciously good wagashi. She looks the same but different, more firm and sure than the last time he saw her, but fundamentally still Tenten. Her eyes keep flicking to the table top, like she can _see_ the gears and the chakra strings keeping them in place and him motile, then making uncomfortably frank eye contact. Frustratingly, she doesn’t _say_ anything, only keeps on discussing the finer points of her theory - which sounds completely improbable, it would turn the entire premise upside down - in between nibbles of spring wagashi and sips of green tea. In between breaking his brain with casual but gentle contact - the table is small and their legs are laced underneath and their arms knock and touch even when they don’t mean to - but Tenten doesn’t move to disentangle or break away, and it feels like the hugs he gets in greeting in Suna - normal.

 

They finally leave the tea shop when it closes and move two doors down to the izakaya for beers and barbecue, unwinding further into comfort - sans hood, sans bun, warm with alcohol and good company and now together on the same side of the table in the booth, stacked against one another like cards into a castle. By now they’ve exhausted the manga, the latest news out of Suna and Konoha, the latest news in their personal lives, a lively multi-nation participation argument over which particular quarry in Iwa gives the best polishing and sharpening stones (as well as the corollary discussion on which quarry produces the Best of either category),a several hour discussion of Kankuro’s theory about getting around wind jutsu - Tenten wants to test them out, but no one in the area is good at Wind jutsu, as well as some of the new technology (mostly trains - Tenten thinks they could do with major improvements since they’re moving targets for ambush, Kankuro is more concerned with getting trains near to Suna), and have just left when a flicker of the electric streetlights startles him enough to stall one of the gears and he stumbles unnaturally.

 

Tenten guides him to a nearby bench, and it’s irritating like sand in one’s sandal - something that at first isn’t but then abrades and abrades until you have a rash or burn on your heel and hobble everywhere, only in his mind not on his skin. It’s the work of a moment for her to crouch and roll up his jumpsuit’s leg to reveal the cogs and the faint traces of his chakra strings that have been keeping him upright and moving. He's had to discreetly add more as the day wore on, to his hips and his spine and shoulders and maybe this is how Sasori began, building himself a puppet to live in. Kankuro tamps down the thought and instead focuses on the featherlight touch of calluses and fingertips as they ghost over skin unnecessarily suddenly sensitive.

 

It's an odd sensation, and he's immediately aware of how this must look to the passersby who glance sideways and do shinobi double takes just to make sure they saw _what_ they saw. By morning everyone even minutely clued into the ninja gossip network will know about this, but wildly blown out of context and with things that didn't happen to spice things up. Kankuro can feel the safe sex refresher talk Temari is going to give him (again) already, and Gaara’s deadpan stare.

 

It's a more minor concern, comparatively; Tenten is poking things that shouldn't be poked, and as clinical as her face is it's highlighted in novel ways by the strong electric lights from beautiful into something angelic. Kankuro is glad for the tint to his base face paint - he's sure his face is burning with excess blood. And by the Sandaime’s Iron, there go a few Suna jounin - Kankuro is never going to live this down. He’s pointedly not looking at Tenten when she taps his knee twice. “There there, whatever you do don’t throw your head back and groan.” The implication hits and Kankuro is mortified.

 

“Think if I ask nicely enough, I can get Onoki to Particle Release me into the Pure Lands?” Kankuro tries to keep his voice level and his face straight, but he fails because he can hear Tenten laughing at him under her breath even as she pulls down his pant leg.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m never going to get Ino off my back about this either.” It’s sympathy, in the clearest sense. Tenten offers her shoulder, but Kankuro declines, instead cycling the gears as he gets to his feet. It’s smooth, so he gestures towards the way they had been headed, and it feels natural to link hands.

 

It’s quiet between them as they steadily traverse the steadily emptying streets towards the guesthouses their contingents have been housed in. Not awkwardly so, thought it could easily be, but a full silence like the 3am silences Kankuro has with his siblings when it is far too late and they are tired but they have miles of paperwork to go before they can rest. Maybe it's that familiarity that makes Kankuro think he can invite Tenten into his room, that reminder of warmth and steel and diamond tucked into living flesh and bone.

 

He might've underestimated his remaining strength, within minutes he's flagging, but she is too. They've been debating the finer points of the political discussions ongoing during the Summit - Onoki is off his rocker with some of what he's saying, but A had some excellent points in rebuttal which surprises everyone - when Tenten speaks into the soft inky darkness, lights long gone out. “Why hide that you need braces?”

 

There's a vulnerable moment when Kankuro debates not answering, but the darkness is .... comforting. Like anything he says is confidential, no matter how honest or revealing. Not that Tenten would do so anyways - not with the serious revelations - but it's far more relaxing to be honest in the dark. “I'm the Master of the Puppeteer Brigade.”

 

A beat of silence, of what feels like no comprehension, and it's as good as an invitation to continue. “People in Suna didn't care for Rasa, not like how they care and love Gaara, and it was especially rough in the Brigade. Every achievement I made, I had to work twice as hard to get recognized. To get access, to get training, to get included. It... helped, a lot, since I ended up having to be twice as good as everyone else at a thing to be considered ‘acceptable’.” He pauses to breathe, pain clenching at his ribs. He doesn’t say how it had rankled then, how it rankles now to remember, how it still affects how the other Puppeteers interact with him and how it frustrates and angers in equal measure. “And now I'm Brigade Master.”

 

She echoes him with something uncomfortably like understanding. “And now you're Brigade Master.” More silence, then shifting that must be Tenten moving to sit upright. “Just because the position defaulted to you after... _after_. It doesn't mean you don't deserve it. You don't need to prove yourself by being strong or throwing yourself into danger.”

 

Per usual, Tenten cuts to the heart of the matter. His mind automatically protests, that she doesn't understand how much he dreamed as a child of wearing the Brigade Master face paint, how he enamored of the stories about the greatest Brigade Masters and their talents, their feats. That he, Kankuro of the Sand, doesn't measure up, not even by half, and he at least needs to do the job of Brigade Master well, protect the Kage and lead the Brigade by example. Strength cannot be gained without support.

 

But. She had spoken with understanding, as though she knew. He can't see her, but ninja training pays off sometimes for non-ninja applications, and he catches her free hand - oh he didn’t let go of the other earlier did he? A consideration for later. “You're the same. You earned your jounin status and the Heavenly Tools with skill and ability and hard work. You lasted longer using them - using more of them - than even a man on track to be a Kage.” The rest of his words taste fraudulent in his mouth - things he knows is true for Tenten but somehow not true for himself and it's unspoken but understood kicking off a round of argument is what neither of them want right now.

 

The night silence claims them both after that. Kankuro has to pretend when he wakes up curled cat-like small and Tenten starfished over him that he doesn't ache with fond memories of cuddling with his mother and sister and Uncle Yashamaru before Gaara was born. This is similar, yet different, less like coming home to sun-warm Suna sand and more like the wet green dappled sunlight of Konoha forests. The same but different.

 

They exit the building only to stumble upon Gai arbitrating a strength contest between Lee, B, and a very muscly man from Iwa. Temari murmurs under her breath as they approach. “Punishment Test of Youth.”

 

Lee seems to be on fire, with most of his clothes on. He seems to have lost sleeves at some point, but in comparison with B and the Iwa ninja - both in underpants - he's still clothed. Gai calls time and the three ninja who were counting the contestants’ one handed push ups declare the counts for the assembled crowd. Lee, unsurprisingly, has the most, and the other two lose the pants. There's screaming and photography flashes and Kankuro uses the cover to mutter back, “Who's being punished here, exactly?” That's more of B he's ever wanted to see.

 

Temari, who had eeled her way over, eyes the display - another contest starting - before rejoining, “I'm never going to unsee that.”

 

Tenten, meanwhile, seems to be enjoying herself - calling encouragement to her teammate, and placing intense bets with the nearest bookies. Kankuro taps her shoulder and disentangles his hand from hers to let her know he's headed away from this madness, and she waves him off cheerfully.

 

It isn't until lunch with both his siblings that Gaara baldly states, “When were you going to tell us about your girlfriend Kankuro?”

 

Kankuro nearabouts spits cloudberry juice across the table. “ _What girlfriend_ . _I don't have a girlfriend._ ”  

 

Temari and Gaara exchange speaking glances, but it's Temari who speaks. “Tenten. The person you're in a surprisingly healthy long distance relationship with?” Which. Temari is one to talk given _Shikamaru_ and the wholly unnecessary “ambassadorial” trips that happen regularly.

 

He's sputtering and he knows it. “ _She's not my girlfriend!”_ Thank the Sage this suite is strictly for only the most trusted of the Suna shinobi, or rumors would fly. More rumors. Oh please for the love of Suna, let Gaara and Temari not have heard anything about last night.

 

“It’s fine, you know. You can admit it.” Temari raises a brow, and Gaara is giving Kankuro his most trustworthy face while not changing a single muscle in his face. “We’re not going to judge you or anything.”

 

“There’s nothing to admit!” His voice is strident, but he’s desperate. Why?

 

Temari raises the other eyebrow and starts ticking off things on her fingers, “Friendly rivals, have meaningful conversations, support one another physically and emotionally, help each other improve - I saw that taijutsu manual you got last year, keep up dedicated correspondence for years and remember people in each other’s periphery, make plans to meet regularly, share interests beyond work,  put up with each other’s crazy teammates as a matter of course, have long conversations that last well into the night, keep each other appraised of life developments in detail, send each other things for no apparent reason- and Gaara, I’m going to need more fingers.” Gaara obliges with a sand hand balled into a fist. “Near silent communication - I saw the three motion mime today that was apparently an entire message, hold hands, share food, spend nights together, and you’re willing to show your weaknesses to her, ” This has Gaara staring at him and Kankuro is wilting, “Have I made my point, or should I continue?”

 

Kankuro is sure she can continue. The sinking feeling in his stomach tells him that he really really doesn’t need her to continue, but his brain is unhelpful and wants to see just how far deep into the quicksand he’s gotten himself.

 

Gaara pulls out a self help guide. Kankuro has seen that guide before; Sai had been reading it, and now Kankuro is consumed by the urge to destroy the book before it taints his brother either by word or by contagion of Konoha. “According to this book, there are a few fundamental basics to a relationship. You have met over 90 percent of the listed requirements by Ino and Temari’s evaluation, and more besides.”

 

Sandaime’s Iron Sand, there is no saving Kankuro, or his sanity. “Gaara, if you love me, you'll kill me before one of the Elders hears and has political raptures.” Three seconds of blank stare and that’s an unequivocal no. “Temari, best sister of mine?”

 

“I’m your only sister. And no one is going to sell you out to an Elder, we’ve made sure of it.” Which means Gaara’s bloodthirsty hellions made watery eyes at everyone until they agreed or they stabbed people into agreement. Or both. Kankuro is never going to live it down. Matsuri and the rest are going to blackmail him for ages.

 

Kankuro throws down his napkin - what a glorious waste of linen, Granny Chiyo is probably screeching with horror in the Pure Lands - and declares, “I’m going to get some fresh air.” He doesn’t wait to be dismissed before barreling out of the suite, out of the building.

 

The park is nice and empty, good for thinking. He turns over the conversation in his mind, over and over and over and over in time to the push-release of the swing. Their words are haunting, not in their content, but the fact that _his siblings aren’t wrong_. What had felt natural, normal.... It looked a lot like a relationship. And that is all well and good, but Kankuro isn’t sure how he feels about that. Is it just normal, or is it because of something more?

 

Kankuro would be first in line to defend that Tenten is beautiful, desirable, bright and dazzling and someone he’s more at ease with than any of the various women he is set up to meet. Something as important as being able to share their time and enjoy it together, as being able to understand one another. But - dating? Romantic .... _stuff_ ? It’s true that some things Kankuro does can be construed as romantic, and maybe this is what Temari meant by trying to get him to make more friends because he would never have gotten himself into this mess if he had a better idea of what is normal, but nevertheless. The thought is warm, but still slightly off kilter like a epiphany - the small things he’s overlooked but that have been there, like knowing the shape of her face when she lets her hair down, the sound of her laugh in full, the calluses and rough worn places on her hands from the constant training, her warmth and the sensations she leaves in her wake, the voice he can hear clear as day in his head when reading a letter, knowing the small details off the top of his head when asked. It paints a picture not unlike something _more_ , like what Temari and Gaara were talking about, and now that Kankuro has a frame to reference, he can’t lie and say he hates the thought. Yet -

 

He tries to imagine a daily life scenario like what his parents had before Gaara, but it sours quickly, even in his mind. Tenten loves her independence as much as Kankuro loves his own, and relationships have _expectations_ . Like moving in together, sharing space constantly, among others that twist his guts with _wrong-no-wrong_. It’s already annoying, and it’s yet a hypothetical. Is this how Temari feels, about Shikamaru and the understood eventuality she’ll move to Konoha and be the permanent, resident ambassador?

 

It might not be worth worrying about - as far as he can tell Tenten is just interested in friendship? But is he reading the situation correctly? This is why he patently prefers his puppets - they’re straightforward and easy to figure out, unlike people.

 

Kankuro shakes himself from his thoughts at the sound of ninja quiet footsteps - he knows that silhouette, and what was that saying about summoning demons by name? And for once, the silence between them is tense - he can’t get those words out of his head, and everything is awkward like it’s never been before. “Can I sit?” He nods, and she takes up the free swing. There’s silence. “So Ino set up an Intervention.”

 

“I think my siblings did too.” More silence, and it’s strained. “So.”

 

“So.” The sunset is punctuated by the steady metronome of the creak of the swings.

 

“Does anything have to change? With us?” Kankuro winces - there were a million ways to phrase that, but he just had to choose the one that made it sound like it was a foregone conclusion there was an “Us” to speak of. “Not that there is an ‘us’, but ....” Open mouth insert foot, Kankuro, well done.

 

“... Do you want there to be an ‘us’?” Careful, but considering, like the thought hadn’t occurred until just now.

 

Not like Kankuro can hold it against her; it’s not like he has an answer himself, “I like what we have now. Does that mean an ‘us’?”

 

More quiet, this time with the opening strains of people hurrying home, or to the bars and izakayas, the sound of places closing or opening and the warmth of the change between afternoon to twilight. “ I like what we have now too, whatever you want to call it. But I can’t ever imagine doing something like Karui, or Temari -” She cuts herself off, as if she’s revealed too much.

 

“I could never ask you to; it would .... it’s anathema to who you are.” It doesn’t need to be said that Kankuro can’t leave Suna either - won’t leave, refuses to leave. They’re both too loyal to leave their Village, to stubborn to choose anything but their home, and too independent to accept having to leave. Too independent to enjoy being in each other’s pockets constantly. “So.”

 

“So. They say we’re in a relationship. Or dating, at least.” Tenten sighs, before straightening her spine. “Why are we even listening to anyone else anyways?”

 

He shrugs, “I’m socially awkward and they’re all terrifying?” It startles a giggle out of her, and it breaks the tension into a feeling more reminiscent of their normal.

 

“Temari and Ino are terrifying. But it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily _right_.” Kankuro will pay good ryo to have Tenten say that to Temari’s face. He’ll mention the possibility later. “Do we agree we both like what we have now? Whatever label is applicable, we don’t care?” She pauses and stares at him, and Kankuro hastily agrees. “Then we don’t have to change anything unless or until that changes.”

 

He nods his agreement. “Thank the Sage. Want to check out the festival the Summit organizers mentioned?” It’s almost second nature, now, after just a few days, to hold out his hand and know the feel of her palm against his, the warmth of her against him.

 

Tenten smiles and takes his hand to pull along in the direction of the sprawl of lights just now turning on. Kankuro is happy to follow along, and it strikes him then that there was a time when he thought Tenten was unremarkable, unmemorable. He is far from the genin he was then, but he can’t help but know that he will never not remember her again. The feel of her laughter tucked against his shoulder as they bounce from group to group together to talk to friends, the casual intimacy she offers and accepts in turn as they separate and find each other in the crowds later, the sound of her words against his ear and the hard-earned calluses that mark her as a master of her craft at the fish catching booth. He can only wonder about what shape he’s left in her life, but it doesn’t matter so much since they’re in accord that they’ll be able to fall into this routine as they want, when they want. It feels new and light and careful made like a fresh blade, like a thousand glittering bits of chakra woven into the fireworks bursting overhead. A million strings connect Kankuro to a trillion different things, but perhaps, indelibly, there are a few thousand between them sunk deep and unwavering, whatever it’s called. He finds he doesn’t mind in the slightest.

**Author's Note:**

> As always feel free to scream with me on [tumblr!](https://modernart2012.tumblr.com/)


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